springa is the Swedish verb "to run" — specifically running on foot, at speed — and it belongs to the i–a–u strong class. Its principal parts run springa – sprang – sprungit, mirroring English spring – sprang – sprung. Beyond the conjugation, the important thing for English speakers is that Swedish splits "go" into three separate verbs: springa (run on foot), gå (walk / go on foot), and åka (go by vehicle). Choosing the wrong one is one of the most common A2 errors.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| springa | springer | sprang | sprungit | spring | Group 4 (strong), i–a–u |
Track the vowel: infinitive and present i (springa, springer), past a (sprang), supine u (sprungit). Three grades — the same i–a–u skeleton as English spring → sprang → sprung. The agreeing past participle is sprungen / sprunget / sprungna, though springa is mostly intransitive, so you meet the supine far more often than the participle.
Jag springer i parken varje morgon.
I run in the park every morning. springer — present, vowel i.
Hon sprang för att hinna med bussen.
She ran to catch the bus. sprang — past, vowel a.
Jag har aldrig sprungit ett helt maraton.
I've never run a whole marathon. har sprungit — perfect, supine vowel u.
Use 1: present, past and perfect
The three tenses come straight off the principal parts. The present springer covers "run" and "am running." The past sprang is a bare vowel-changed stem. The perfect is har sprungit; the pluperfect is hade sprungit.
Barnen springer omkring på gården.
The children are running around in the yard. Present springer.
Vi sprang hela vägen hem i regnet.
We ran the whole way home in the rain. sprang — simple past.
Hunden hade redan sprungit iväg när vi kom ut.
The dog had already run off when we came out. hade sprungit — pluperfect, supine sprungit.
Use 2: springa vs gå vs åka — three verbs of motion
This is where English "go" splinters. springa is to run on foot at speed; gå is to walk or go on foot (and also the general "leave/go" for short distances); åka is to travel by vehicle — car, train, bus, bike. English uses "go" for all of these, so the choice has to be made consciously.
Jag går till jobbet, men idag fick jag springa.
I walk to work, but today I had to run. gå (walk) vs springa (run).
Vi åker tåg till Göteborg på fredag.
We're going to Gothenburg by train on Friday. åka — travel by vehicle, never springa or gå.
Spring inte i korridoren — gå lugnt.
Don't run in the corridor — walk calmly. Imperative spring vs gå.
A quick test: if your feet are pounding fast, it's springa; if your feet move at a normal pace, gå; if you're sitting in or on something that carries you, åka.
Use 3: the particle springa ifrån
The particle ifrån gives springa ifrån, "outrun / run away from" someone — to leave them behind by running faster.
Han sprang ifrån alla de andra löparna på upploppet.
He outran all the other runners on the home stretch. springa ifrån — leave behind by running faster.
Du kan inte springa ifrån dina problem.
You can't run away from your problems. springa ifrån, used figuratively.
A note on the i–a–u family
springa shares its i–a–u vowel skeleton with a cluster of other strong verbs, so the pattern you learn here transfers. The family includes dricka – drack – druckit ("drink"), vinna – vann – vunnit ("win"), finna – fann – funnit ("find") and binda – band – bundit ("tie"). The recurring shape — past in a, supine in u — is the same machinery as English spring/sprang/sprung and drink/drank/drunk, so spotting one member helps you predict the rest.
Hon sprang fort och vann loppet.
She ran fast and won the race. sprang and vann are both i–a–u pasts.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jag springade till bussen.
Incorrect — springa is strong and takes no -ade ending. The past is the vowel-changed sprang.
✅ Jag sprang till bussen.
I ran to the bus.
❌ Vi har sprang hela vägen.
Incorrect — after har you need the supine sprungit, not the past sprang.
✅ Vi har sprungit hela vägen.
We've run the whole way.
❌ Jag har springit för långt. (wrong supine vowel)
Incorrect — the supine is sprungit with u, not the infinitive vowel i.
✅ Jag har sprungit för långt.
I've run too far.
❌ Jag springer till Spanien i sommar. (meaning travel there)
Wrong verb — you travel by vehicle, so it's åka, not springa.
✅ Jag åker till Spanien i sommar.
I'm going to Spain this summer.
❌ Hon sprang till skolan varje dag. (meaning her ordinary commute on foot)
Misleading — sprang means she literally ran; for an ordinary walk to school use gå.
✅ Hon gick till skolan varje dag.
She walked to school every day.
Now practice Swedish
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Index of Strong Verbs by PatternB1 — A navigable index of the common Swedish strong verbs, grouped by ablaut pattern rather than alphabetically — i–e–i (skriva/skrev/skrivit), i–a–u (dricka/drack/druckit), a–o–a (ta/tog/tagit), and the irregular/contracted set (gå/gick/gått). Each group is a four-part table of principal parts with English cognate hints, because organising strong verbs by shared vowel pattern turns a scary list into a few learnable families.
- Strong Verbs: Overview and Principal PartsB1 — Strong verbs (Group 4) don't add a past-tense ending — they change their stem vowel across three principal parts: skriva–skrev–skrivit. The vowel moves in recurring patterns (ablaut) that Swedish shares with English: i–a–u is the same machinery as sing–sang–sung. This page teaches you to read principal parts, recognise the classes, and leverage the English cognate vowels so memorisation becomes pattern-recognition.
- Supine vs Past ParticipleB1 — The single Swedish verb-form distinction English has no equivalent for: the supine (har skrivit — fixed, invariable, only after ha) versus the past participle (en skriven bok, ett skrivet brev, skrivna böcker — fully agreeing, used as adjective and in the passive). English collapses both into one '-en' word; Swedish splits them, and confusing the two (*har skriven, *en skrivit bok) is a hallmark learner error.